Photos in Blogging Your Guide

Last week, I wrote about graphics and blogging, today it’s all about photos and blogging. I feel like photos/images are very different from graphics. Graphics are something that you can create in a program like Canva, PicMonkey or Photoshop from scratch. Photos/images have to be taken with a camera and then if you want you can add graphics or text on top. There are a lot of things that you have to know when dealing with using photos in blogging. If you’re going to add photos to your blog there are a few main areas that you have to be aware of.

Where did the photos come from?

If you pulled the photo from a google search. You need permission from the photographer, it’s not good enough to just put who took the photo underneath the photo or at the bottom of the post or what site you found it on. The photographer could still come back and ask you take it down if they are nice or they could serve you with a notice of some sort saying you don’t have permission to use that photo, I will use legal action if you don’t take it down. Having permission to use a photo is very important. Permission can come in a few different ways – you paid for it, the photographer said it was ok to use it with or without credit, you took the photo yourself.

If you are subscribed to a service like Death to the Stock Photo or Creative Market then you totally have permission to use their photos. I would still give credit because you’re using their photos, it shows support to that brand and it helps spread the word about some great stock photos. If you altered the photo in any way, I would also explain that in the credit line as well. For example, text on the image is mine.

If you took the photo yourself, then you are completely in the clear and can do whatever you want with it because you took the photo. Since you have photos you took yourself on your site, I would put up something on your site about giving or not giving permission for others to use your photos. Some bloggers say that their photos can be used when credit to them is given.

Do you have permission?

I’ve already mentioned this, but it’s worth repeating: you must have permission to use the photo. Google search for an image or using Pinterest to find the perfect image and grabbing it from there is not enough. You can’t credit Pinterest for the photo either. Pinterest curates images from lots of different websites, if you don’t have permission from the owner of the photo, don’t use it. And you need to make sure that the person on the website you saw the photo on has permission to use the photo or they are the owner of the photo. Getting permission to use the photo can be difficult and complicated.

Stock Photos are a great place to start

If you want to have photos and not just graphics on your website, going to a free or paid stock photo website is a great way to know that you have permission to use the photo. There are some awesome stock photo websites like Pixabay, Pexels, Stock Up, The Stocks, and StockSnap. There are all sorts of stock photo places to go especially if you don’t have the time to take your own photos or aren’t really interested in taking photos but want to have that look.

Pick up your phone

Don’t forget we all have cameras on our phones these days and they can take some really great photos. So practice taking some photos and when you’re feeling more confident in your photo taking skills, use those photos on your site. Using your photos makes it much easier instead of using other people’s photos and having to deal with copyright infringement. Or you could just go the graphics route until you’re more confident with your photo taking skills. Even when you’re dealing with food photography, at the beginning, instead of taking a picture of every step, take a photo of the finished product and work your way up to sharing the photos of each step. Practice taking the photos from the beginning and then share when you’re getting the shots that you like.

Tips

When uploading the photos to your site, be sure they are all the same width. It doesn’t look as professional if they are all different widths and sizes. Be sure to try to resize them before uploading the photos.

If possible, use smaller file sizes by compressing the photos. If the files are too large, it makes your site load slower and not run as fast.

When using photos in social media, be sure to use the appropriate size for the platform. Here’s an update-to-date guide from Sprout Social.

Optimizing Your Image for SEO

Rename your file image from FILE00234.jpg to using-photos-in-blogging.jpeg. Hyphens are needed because bots read the name as one word, instead of reading the separate words. Hyphens help the bots to read the words separately.

Alt attributes are really important for SEO and for Rich Pins on Pinterest. Not to get into too much detail, here’s what you need to know. When uploading your file to WordPress or Blogger, there is a section called Alt Text. The Alt Text section is what bots read about your photo since they can’t see the image themselves. This section is also what goes below your pin on Pinterest for a better description or when your image doesn’t show up on someone’s computer they see this text. So be sure to fill this out and be very descriptive.

There is also a section called Title near the Alt Text. Do not put the same thing in both spots, that’s considered keyword stuffing and you can be penalized for that. Ever notice when you hover over an image and there is a box of text that pops up, that’s the title in use. If you choose to use this section, use it as a complement to the Alt Text.

Where do you go to find photos for your site? Do you use images or take photos yourself? I’d love to know!

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Hi! I'm Ashley and I love to build WordPress websites. I've been working with WP sites for over five years. I would love to build you an incredible website.
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